editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Joseph Shapiro is a NPR News Investigations correspondent. In this role, Shapiro takes on long-term reporting projects and covers breaking news stories for NPR's news shows. Shapiro's major investigative stories include his reports on the way rising court fines and fees create an unequal system of justice for the poor and the rise of what critics call "modern day debtors' prisons;" the failure of colleges and universities to punish for on-campus sexual assaults ; the inadequacy of civil rights laws designed to get the elderly and people with disabilities out of nursing homes; and the little-known profits involved in the production of medical products from donated human cadavers . His reporting has generated wide-spread attention to serious issues here and abroad. His "Child Cases" series, reported with PBS Frontline and ProPublica, found two dozen cases in the U.S. and Canada where parents and caregivers were charged with killing children, but the charges were later reversed or droppedNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Joseph ShapiroThu, 23 Feb 2017 08:30:23 +0000Joseph Shapirohttp://kazu.org
Joseph ShapiroDisability rights activist Nick Dupree died last weekend. Tomorrow would have been his 35th birthday. Back in 2003, he told NPR : "I want a life. I just want a life. Like anyone else. Just like your life. Or anyone else's life." He got that life. Dupree had a severe neuromuscular disease and was living in Mobile, Ala. He was in a wheelchair and depended on a respirator to breathe. The state paid for nurses to come into his home — even take him to college classes. But that care was about to end the day he turned 21. He faced going to a nursing home, where he feared he would die. Every state has a program that pays for care for severely disabled children to live at home, but not every state continues that care into adulthood. When Dupree was 19, he started Nick's Crusade — an online campaign to change the rules in Alabama. Just a few days before his 21st birthday, he won. In 2008, he decided to move to New York City. "I assisted him moving to New York, which was very, very scary for me,"Nick Dupree Fought To Live 'Like Anyone Else'http://kazu.org/post/nick-dupree-fought-live-anyone-else
85172 as http://kazu.orgWed, 22 Feb 2017 21:47:00 +0000Nick Dupree Fought To Live 'Like Anyone Else'Joseph Shapirohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjN0DaL2mxo On Feb. 3, 2011, corrections officers at the Lewisburg federal penitentiary in central Pennsylvania arrived outside Sebastian Richardson's cell door. With them was a man looking agitated, rocking back and forth and staring down at Richardson, who at 4 feet, 11 inches was nicknamed "Bam Bam." The man, officers told Richardson, was his new cellmate. The two would spend nearly 24 hours a day celled together in a concrete room smaller than a parking space. Richardson, 51, didn't know his new cellmate's name; only that he went by the nickname "The Prophet." Lenelle Gray, a former Lewisburg inmate, said The Prophet had a habit of screaming songs or shouting the spelling of words for hours, as though competing in his own private spelling bee. There were also rumors that he had assaulted more than 20 previous cellmates. "Every cellie he get, he always end up fighting. He was just crazy," Gray said in an interview. "He's Lewisburg's weapon," formerInside Lewisburg Prison: A Choice Between A Violent Cellmate Or Shackleshttp://kazu.org/post/inside-lewisburg-prison-choice-between-violent-cellmate-or-shackles
80253 as http://kazu.orgWed, 26 Oct 2016 15:26:00 +0000Inside Lewisburg Prison: A Choice Between A Violent Cellmate Or ShacklesJoseph ShapiroIt may seem like there are a lot more cases of people being shot and killed by police. Just this week, two African-American men were shot by police: Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn. Before that there was Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Laquan McDonald in Chicago and Tamir Rice in Cleveland. But could it be that we are just paying more attention? Protests in Ferguson and around the country and the Black Lives Matter movement have sharpened focus on police shootings. But Phil Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, thinks what made us pay attention the most was technology: all those cell phone videos. "I don't think anybody would pay attention to all the advocates and all the protests but for the videos," he says. "A dead man can't talk. It used to be that the police owned the narrative, and now we've got another side to the story, quite often, with the videos." The number of police shootings has stayed prettyVideos Make Everyone A Witness To Police Shootingshttp://kazu.org/post/these-days-everyone-pays-attention-police-shootings
75435 as http://kazu.orgFri, 08 Jul 2016 09:18:00 +0000Videos Make Everyone A Witness To Police ShootingsJoseph ShapiroDavontae Sanford was only 14 years old when he was arrested for a string of murders in Michigan. But after almost nine years in prison, his conviction was overturned when a state investigation found that the real killer had later confessed to Wayne County police and prosecutors. Now 23, Sanford was reunited with his family last week in Detroit. But that tearful homecoming almost didn't happen, because of more than $2,000 in unpaid court fines and fees he amassed while in prison — including a bill for a public defender. Two years ago, an NPR investigation looked at how impoverished people in U.S. court systems often end up having to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in court costs. It was a problem particularly in Michigan, where we found a 19-year-old man ordered to jail when he didn't pay the fine for catching a fish out of season; a homeless Iraq veteran who was jailed when he came to court with $35 instead of the $50 the judge ordered to pay; and another defendant who was billedCourt Fines And Fees Almost Delay Homecoming For Wrongly Convicted Michigan Manhttp://kazu.org/post/court-fines-and-fees-almost-delay-homecoming-wrongly-convicted-michigan-man
74344 as http://kazu.orgTue, 14 Jun 2016 09:04:00 +0000Court Fines And Fees Almost Delay Homecoming For Wrongly Convicted Michigan ManJoseph ShapiroDebtors' prisons have long been illegal in the United States. But many courts across the country still send people to jail when they can't pay their court fines. Last year, the Justice Department stepped in to stop the practice in Ferguson, Mo. And now, in a first, a U.S. city will pay out thousands of dollars to people who were wrongly sent to jail. Today, Colorado Springs, Colo., and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado announced a settlement that will end the practice of jailing people too poor to pay their court fines. The city will even give payouts to people who were incorrectly sent to jail. Last year, the ACLU of Colorado discovered nearly 800 cases where people had gone to jail in Colorado Springs when they couldn't pay their tickets for minor violations. Most of the people were homeless — and they were ticketed for things such as panhandling or sleeping in a park overnight. Attorney Mark Silverstein of the ACLU of Colorado notes that putting people in jail when theyColorado Springs Will Stop Jailing People Too Poor To Pay Court Fineshttp://kazu.org/post/colorado-springs-will-stop-jailing-people-too-poor-pay-court-fines
72695 as http://kazu.orgThu, 05 May 2016 15:45:00 +0000Colorado Springs Will Stop Jailing People Too Poor To Pay Court FinesJoseph ShapiroThis seems like a contradiction: Put a dangerous prison inmate into solitary confinement, and then give him a cellmate. An investigation by NPR and The Marshall Project, a news organization that specializes in criminal justice, found that this practice — called double celling — is widespread in state and federal prisons. And as we learned, those cellmates often fight, attack and, sometimes, kill. On Nov. 19, 2014, the door clanged shut behind David Sesson and Bernard Simmons. Sesson put his hands through the food slot to have his handcuffs removed. Both men were in "disciplinary segregation," a bureaucratic term for solitary confinement, at Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois. But unlike many in solitary, Sesson and Simmons wouldn't have a moment alone. The 4-foot-8-inch by 10-foot-8-inch space was originally built for one, but as Menard became increasingly overcrowded and guards sent more people to solitary, the prison bolted in a second bunk. The two men would have to eatDoubling Up Prisoners In 'Solitary' Creates Deadly Consequenceshttp://kazu.org/post/doubling-prisoners-solitary-creates-deadly-consequences
70820 as http://kazu.orgThu, 24 Mar 2016 11:50:00 +0000Doubling Up Prisoners In 'Solitary' Creates Deadly ConsequencesJoseph ShapiroCopyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit Transcript ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: Court fines for a minor infraction, like a traffic ticket or jaywalking, can cost hundreds of dollars. For those who can't come up with the money, it can mean a stint in jail. Complaints are growing about the practice. And today, the White House brought together experts to talk about solutions. NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports. JOSEPH SHAPIRO, BYLINE: The attorney general, Loretta Lynch, said there are so many fines and fees tacked onto minor offenses that equal justice is denied to the poor. LORETTA LYNCH: What we are seeing in this country amounts to nothing less than the criminalization of poverty - of poverty, not of actions, not of deeds, but of a condition that is not of people's making. SHAPIRO: The attorney general mentioned the case from the Justice Department's March report on the way courts in Ferguson, Mo., used fines and fees to raise revenue. One woman owed $152 on two parking tickets. She'd been homeless.White House Gathers Lawmakers And Judges To Solve Steep Court Feeshttp://kazu.org/post/white-house-gathers-lawmakers-and-judges-solve-steep-court-fees
65893 as http://kazu.orgThu, 03 Dec 2015 21:02:00 +0000White House Gathers Lawmakers And Judges To Solve Steep Court FeesJoseph Shapirohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvoj-ku8zk0 To Haben Girma's grandmother, back in East Africa, it "seemed like magic." Her granddaughter, born deaf and blind, is a graduate of Harvard Law School and works as a civil rights attorney. It's easy to understand why the grandmother feels that way. Years before, she had tried to find a school in Eritrea for Girma's older brother, who was also born deaf and blind. She was turned away. There were schools for blind children and schools for deaf children. But no school would teach a child who was deaf-blind (that's the preferred terminology in the disability community). Girma describes that brother as "brilliant." Girma told the story last week at the White House, when she introduced President Obama during a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act . By the time Girma was born in 1988, six years younger than her brother, her mother had made a refugee's journey from Eritrea to the United States. And in CaliforniaShe Owes Her Activism To A Brave Mom, The ADA And Chocolate Cakehttp://kazu.org/post/she-owes-her-activism-brave-mom-ada-and-chocolate-cake
60116 as http://kazu.orgFri, 31 Jul 2015 16:54:00 +0000She Owes Her Activism To A Brave Mom, The ADA And Chocolate CakeJoseph ShapiroThe thing Sara Garcia remembers from the day her son, Mark, got out of prison was the hug — the very, very awkward hug. He had just turned 21 and for the past two and a half years, he'd been in solitary confinement. "He's not used to anyone touching him," Garcia says. "So he's not used to hugs. And I mean we grabbed him. I mean, we hugged him. We held him. I mean, it was just surreal to just know I can finally give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek." Mark, who was released directly from solitary confinement into his mother's arms, is one of tens of thousands of inmates that NPR and The Marshall Project — a journalism group that focuses on the criminal justice system — found as part of a state-by-state survey. We wanted to know: How many people are released directly from solitary confinement to the streets? There were at least 10,000 in 2014. That's from information provided by just 24 states. The other 26 states — as well as the federal prison system — say they don't count, or couldn'tComing Home Straight From Solitary Damages Inmates And Their Familieshttp://kazu.org/post/coming-home-straight-solitary-damages-inmates-and-their-families
58116 as http://kazu.orgFri, 12 Jun 2015 09:03:00 +0000Coming Home Straight From Solitary Damages Inmates And Their FamiliesJoseph ShapiroOn a night last week when the temperature dropped to 17 degrees, Edward Brown, who's 62 and homeless, slept at the bus stop in front of the Jennings, Mo., city hall in St. Louis County. "It was cold, very cold," he says. "It's so cold I can't really move so I kept playing with my feet — rubbing 'em, twisting 'em, trying to keep warm." Brown's troubles started when he tried to fight the city of Jennings, and his story shows how court fines and fees can grow, turning an impoverished person's life upside down. The city wanted to condemn his small, crumbling house, where he had lived for 25 years. Officials sent him a citation for letting the grass grow too high. Brown stayed in the house after it was condemned, and received a citation for trespassing. Stephanie Lummus, an attorney at ArchCity Defenders who now represents Brown, says he had been bedridden from injuring his back, and was unable to push a lawnmower. He was ticketed, too, for not getting a rabies vaccine for his dog, Matrix.Jail Time For Unpaid Court Fines And Fees Can Create Cycle Of Povertyhttp://kazu.org/post/jail-time-unpaid-court-fines-and-fees-can-create-cycle-poverty
53113 as http://kazu.orgMon, 09 Feb 2015 22:38:00 +0000Jail Time For Unpaid Court Fines And Fees Can Create Cycle Of PovertyJoseph ShapiroA new report on the growth of court fines and fees that are charged to often-impoverished offenders is focusing on another group that pays: their families. Titled "When All Else Fails, Fining the Family," the study finds that impoverished people who go through the criminal justice system almost always get cash from family and friends to help pay their court-ordered fines, even though those family and friends are often poor, too. The report was published by the Center For Community Alternatives , a New York-based advocacy group that promotes alternatives to incarceration. The study notes that "the incarcerated individual's friends and family ... become, in effect, a parallel welfare state." The report was based on interviews with 39 ex-prisoners, including David Silva. Silva says he spent about 15 years cycling in and out of the criminal justice system, mostly as a result of his substance abuse. He was last released in 2006, owing about $30,000, according to the report. Most of it wasStudy Finds Court Fees Also Punish The Families Of Those Who Owehttp://kazu.org/post/study-finds-court-fees-also-punish-families-those-who-owe
52653 as http://kazu.orgThu, 29 Jan 2015 22:51:00 +0000Study Finds Court Fees Also Punish The Families Of Those Who OweJoseph ShapiroMassachusetts is one of a growing number of states that are putting new restrictions on the practice of restraining and secluding public school students. The techniques — which have been blamed for harming students and in at least 20 deaths — were used more than 267,000 times in a recent school year, according to an analysis last year of federal data by NPR and ProPublica . Starting this year, Massachusetts will no longer allow school staff to pin students face-down on the floor, except in rare circumstances when a doctor approves it for a specific student, ProPublica reports . Restraint and seclusion are supposed to be used in extraordinary circumstances, when a child's behavior puts himself or others at risk. But federal officials have expressed concern that restraint and seclusion are overused and have sought to limit it. One result is that many states, like Massachusetts, have reformed their use of the practice. Research by Jessica Butler, an attorney and mother of a child withMassachusetts Will Limit Practice Of Restraint And Seclusion In Schoolshttp://kazu.org/post/massachusetts-will-limit-practice-restraint-and-seclusion-schools
51854 as http://kazu.orgFri, 09 Jan 2015 22:08:00 +0000Massachusetts Will Limit Practice Of Restraint And Seclusion In SchoolsJoseph ShapiroThis is the second of two stories. Read the first story here . If you get caught drinking and driving in Wisconsin, and it's your first offense, you lose your license for nine months. For a hit-and-run, the punishment is suspension for one year. But if you don't pay a ticket for a minor driving offense, such as driving with a broken tail light, you can lose your license for two years. "It's an incredible policy," says John Pawasarat of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. It's "a policy of punishing people who can't pay their fines." The practice — repeated in states across the country — is mostly affecting the poor and creating a spiral of bad consequences. NPR's recent "Guilty and Charged" investigation found that rising court fines and fees — reaching hundreds or even thousands of dollars per person — often hurt poor people the most. Pawasarat, who runs the university's Employment and Training Institute and studies Milwaukee's poor neighborhoods , says one of the biggest barriersHow Driver's License Suspensions Unfairly Target The Poorhttp://kazu.org/post/how-drivers-license-suspensions-unfairly-target-poor
51619 as http://kazu.orgMon, 05 Jan 2015 08:31:00 +0000How Driver's License Suspensions Unfairly Target The PoorJoseph ShapiroDrive drunk, drive recklessly, and the state can suspend your driver's license. But many police and motor vehicle administrators worry about a recent trend: A large number of suspensions are for reasons that have nothing to do with unsafe driving. These reasons include unpaid traffic tickets, falling behind on child support, getting caught with drugs, bouncing checks; or minor juvenile offenses like missing school, using false identification to buy alcohol, or shoplifting. Increasingly, people who study driver safety say this makes little sense. A study in 2013 from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators raised concerns that police and state and local motor vehicle officials find too much of their time and budget tied up going after people with suspensions for minor lawbreaking that has nothing to do with safe driving. "They want to focus on the people who pose a risk to the general population that's driving on the roadway. And those are usually the people who areCan't Pay Your Fines? Your License Could Be Takenhttp://kazu.org/post/cant-pay-your-fines-your-license-could-be-taken
51405 as http://kazu.orgMon, 29 Dec 2014 23:35:00 +0000Can't Pay Your Fines? Your License Could Be TakenJoseph ShapiroThere may be a model for court reform in Ferguson, Mo., in a legal settlement that happened quietly this week in Alabama. The city of Montgomery agreed to new polices to avoid jailing people who say they are too poor to pay traffic tickets. In that Alabama city, as in Ferguson , there's been tension between poor residents and police over the way people are fined for traffic tickets and other minor violations and then sometimes jailed for not paying. On Monday, a federal court judge approved a settlement between the city of Montgomery and plaintiffs who said they had been unlawfully jailed when they were unable to pay court fines and fees. In the settlement, the city agreed to set a clear standard for municipal courts to determine whether someone is too poor to pay court fines and fees. There have been similar lawsuits elsewhere — a judge closed down the municipal courts of two small Alabama towns in 2012 and 2013 — but those cases are still being hashed out and Montgomery is the firstAlabama Settlement Could Be Model For Handling Poor Defendants In Ferguson, Mo. http://kazu.org/post/alabama-settlement-could-be-model-handling-poor-defendants-ferguson-mo
49915 as http://kazu.orgThu, 20 Nov 2014 22:26:00 +0000Alabama Settlement Could Be Model For Handling Poor Defendants In Ferguson, Mo. Joseph ShapiroHere are just a few of the fees the city court in Ferguson, Mo., can bill you for: There's a fee to plead guilty. That's $12. You even pay for your own arrest warrant. "The sheriff can charge you for the mileage that it costs them to serve a bench warrant," notes Alexes Harris, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Washington. Each individual fee may seem small, but there are at least a dozen, and they add up. Harris, on her computer, pulled up Ferguson's municipal code. There's a $2 fee for every court visit. That money goes into a pot for the police department, to pay for police training. There's a charge to ask for a court appearance to be delayed "because of work or family obligations," Harris notes. "So there are just layers and layers of local fines and user fees that are charged to people using the court system." Plus, they're on top of court fines, which in Ferguson typically run a few hundred, or even a thousand dollars, says Thomas Harvey, co-founder ofFerguson's Plan To Cut Back On Court Fees Could Inspire Changehttp://kazu.org/post/fergusons-plan-cut-back-court-fees-could-inspire-change
47246 as http://kazu.orgWed, 10 Sep 2014 12:01:00 +0000Ferguson's Plan To Cut Back On Court Fees Could Inspire ChangeJoseph ShapiroTo understand some of the distrust of police that has fueled protests in Ferguson, Mo., consider this: In 2013, the municipal court in Ferguson — a city of 21,135 people — issued 32,975 arrest warrants for nonviolent offenses, mostly driving violations. A new report released the week after 18-year old Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson helps explain why. ArchCity Defenders, a St. Louis-area public defender group, says in its report that more than half the courts in St. Louis County engage in the "illegal and harmful practices" of charging high court fines and fees on nonviolent offenses like traffic violations — and then arresting people when they don't pay. The report singles out courts in three communities, including Ferguson. Thomas Harvey, who started the organization to provide legal services to the poor in the St. Louis region and is the lead author of the report, says residents, especially in Ferguson, have come to see the use of fines and fees as a way for courts toIn Ferguson, Court Fines And Fees Fuel Angerhttp://kazu.org/post/ferguson-court-fines-and-fees-fuel-anger
46636 as http://kazu.orgMon, 25 Aug 2014 21:56:00 +0000In Ferguson, Court Fines And Fees Fuel AngerJoseph ShapiroThe practice of secluding or restraining children when they get agitated has long been a controversial practice in public schools. Now, new data show that it's more common than previously understood, happening at least 267,000 times in a recent school year. NPR worked with reporters from the investigative journalism group ProPublica, who compiled data from the U.S. Department of Education to come up with one of the clearest looks at the practice of seclusion and restraint. In most cases, the practice is used with students with disabilities — usually with those who have autism or are labeled emotionally disturbed. Sometimes the students will get upset; they might even get violent. To calm or control them, teachers and aides might isolate them in a separate room, which is a practice known as seclusion. Or they might restrain them by holding or hugging them, or pinning them to the ground, or by using mechanical restraints, such as a belt or even handcuffs. An analysis by ProPublica andNational Data Confirm Cases Of Restraint And Seclusion In Public Schoolshttp://kazu.org/post/national-data-confirms-cases-restraint-and-seclusion-public-schools
43690 as http://kazu.orgWed, 18 Jun 2014 21:59:00 +0000National Data Confirm Cases Of Restraint And Seclusion In Public SchoolsJoseph ShapiroTranscript ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel. MELISSA BLOCK, HOST: And I'm Melissa Block. Michigan's top court, today, moved to put limits on what local governments can charge defendants who go through the court system. The court ruled in a case we told you about last month of a man who got billed more than a thousand dollars for his court costs. NPR's Joseph Shapiro, who reported the series of stories we called Guilty And Charged, has this update. JOSEPH SHAPIRO, BYLINE: The Michigan Supreme Court said, today, that the county where Frederick Cunningham went to court erred when it handed him a bill. Cunningham forged a prescription to get painkiller drugs. Along with prison time, he was billed $1,200, including $500 for the cost of operating the courts - for the heat, the phones, the security, even to help pay for the county employees' fitness gym. Anne Yantus works for Michigan State Appellate Defenders Office and representedMichigan's High Court Limits The Fees Billed To Defendantshttp://kazu.org/post/michigans-high-court-limits-fees-billed-defendants
43685 as http://kazu.orgWed, 18 Jun 2014 21:32:00 +0000Michigan's High Court Limits The Fees Billed To DefendantsJoseph ShapiroDebtors prisons were outlawed in the United States nearly 200 years ago. And more than 30 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear: Judges cannot send people to jail just because they are too poor to pay their court fines. That decision came in a 1983 case called Bearden v. Georgia , which held that a judge must first consider whether the defendant has the ability to pay but "willfully" refuses. However, the Supreme Court didn't tell courts how to determine what it means to "willfully" not pay. So it's left to judges to make the sometimes difficult calculations. An NPR news investigation has found there are wide discrepancies in how judges make those decisions. And every day, people go to jail because they failed to pay their court debts. In Benton County, Wash., for example, jail records obtained by NPR and sampled over a four-month period in 2013 show that on a typical day, a quarter of the people who were in jail for misdemeanor offenses were there because they had failed toSupreme Court Ruling Not Enough To Prevent Debtors Prisonshttp://kazu.org/post/supreme-court-ruling-not-enough-prevent-debtors-prisons
42406 as http://kazu.orgWed, 21 May 2014 09:08:00 +0000Supreme Court Ruling Not Enough To Prevent Debtors Prisons